Mum flags run-down road danger

ANITA Auckland fears the lives of her young family will be in danger once quarry trucks start using the “dilapidated” Kin Kin-Pomona Road.

The Kin Kin mum of four children under the age of seven, said travelling on the winding, narrow stretch was scary enough without the trucks.

She believes the number of serious crashes on the road will rise dramatically if up to 40 trucks a day are allowed to use it.

“There are already heaps of crashes on the road and this will just make it worse,” Ms Auckland said.

“Every day a packed school bus travels along the road. It sends shivers down my spine to think what could happen.

“The road has never been assessed and doesn’t even have a grading. It’s crumbling away at the sides now and the load of the trucks will completely destroy it.”

Ms Auckland’s fears follow an announcement by the Neilsen Group that it plans to reopen and expand a quarry on Sheppersons Hill, just outside Kin Kin.

The hard rock quarry, which may operate six days a week and blast throughout the day, will be home to a fleet of 40 trucks which will transport the rock using the Kin Kin-Pomona Road as their main route.

On Boxing Day Ms Auckland was one of the first people on the scene of a serious, single-vehicle crash on the stretch of road.

The car spun out of control on a steep corner of the narrow road, ploughing through trees and into a ditch. Such crashes were common, she said.

“If the road was widened and upgraded before the trucks get going then it would put my mind a bit more at ease.

“Myself and other local residents have spoken to police, and they’re worried about this, too.

“I get scared it could be me and my kids that go over edge because the road will be so degraded from the trucks.”

Ms Auckland has written to Main Roads expressing her concerns, but is yet to receive a response.

Sunshine Coast councillor Lew Brennan, who represents the Kin Kin and Pomona communities, said he was fighting hard to stop quarry trucks using the “dangerous stretch of road”.

He said he had written to Main Roads minister Craig Wallace and the regional manager of Main Roads, but had also not received a response.

“I wholly share the locals concerns about the road. It’s in my backyard too,” Mr Brennan said. “I know the road well and to allow heavy vehicles to travel on it is absurd and dangerous.

“The road simply isn’t capable of handling heavy trucks.”

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